Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Daniel Craig's Time as James Bond Ends with A Flop

James Bond is an
icon; an eternal character too large for one man. Thus every actor’s stint as the suave British
agent with a license to kill must come to an end. Connery, Dalton, Moore, Brosnan…their times
have all come to a close and with the release of Spectre, Daniel Craig’s chapter as the tuxedo wearing, martini
drinking, Astin Martin driving spy is now part of the pantheon of greats that
have come before him. But that’s the
problem. Throughout the course of Craig’s
four Bond films the character has become a shadow of itself. Maybe it was a Bond for a new generation; a Bond
with an edge who sacrificed the debonair attitude for some grit and grime. I’d be able to accept that if the films were
any good.

Now don’t get me
wrong. I enjoyed 2 out of 4 of the Craig
films. Casino Royale was based on the first Ian Fleming Bond novel and
thus had most of the elements of what we’ve all come to expect in a 007 flick:
the Astin Martin, the martinis, the sex on the beach. Quantum
of Solace was a miss in my book, a continuation of the events of Casino
Royale in a way that DID NOT feel like a Bond film. Part of that comes from the fact that they
were forced to create a plot without the help of a Fleming novel. They took this “new” Bond which Craig had
helped create – the kind that rudely says “I don’t give a damn” instead of “shaken
not stirred” to the bartender – and thrust him into a new world. While Quantum
fell flat, Craig and co. turned it around with Skyfall, a film that in every way felt like classic Bond. Diving deep into James’ past as well as his
lifelong personal relationship with Judy Dench’s M was spectacular. Javier Bardem’s villain was superb. He was the classy, sophisticated psychopath
you expect to try and take over the world.
I was blown away and had such high hopes for the follow up; which brings
us to Spectre.

What
happened?? The film fell flat and was
not the “go out with a bang” I was hoping for for Craig’s last iteration of
Bond. While Ralph Fiennes is INCREDIBLE
as M, Christopher Waltz’s rendition of classic Bond villain Ernst Stavro
Blofeld was bland and forgettable. This
is immensely disappointing as I’ve come to adore Waltz as an actor,
particularly in the role of the villain and yet he is completely
forgettable. Gadgets are nowhere to be
found and the sleek, bullet proof spy car only has a rear flamethrower...whoop dee
doo. The evil organization SPECTRE where
the film gets it’s title does not come across as all powerful but instead a
rather plain group of individuals ruled by…money? power? influence? force? It’s
never abundantly clear leading you to not really believe the fact that they are “everywhere”
so to speak. Aspects of Bond’s character
are almost non existent and make the film feel like a generic, run of the mill
action movie with dark undertones. If it
weren’t for the Bond theme playing in the background, it would be possible to
write off the film as just that.
Ultimately, it’s a poor and disappointing end to Craig’s time as the
titular hero but ultimately, an accurate reflection of his version of the
character from the beginning.

Craig’s “rough
around the edges” adaptation of 007 has never quite fit. Something has always been a little off and Spectre seals the deal. It reminds us that while his four films have
elements and aspects of the classic Bond movies that came before, they never
quite hit the mark. Something was always
missing. Now that he’s moving on from
the character the world will wait anxiously for a new Bond to take up the
reigns. Without the constraints of the
Fleming novels the character could go in any direction. But I’m holding out hope that after the
raucous thrill ride that was the last four, we’ll see a return to form.

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Larissa is the Teen Librarian at the DFL. She has a BA in English Lit from Smith College and an MS in Library and Information Science from Drexel University. She owns a production company with her boyfriend, and together they create film and print works. Larissa is a little obsessed with feminism, the moon, and pizza.